Protege
by LoneGunGirl88
Summary: During the days of hell in Mugenjou the VOLTS take on a new recruit with the power to control the wind. I swear its not a Mary Sue!
1. Chapter 1

**Konichiwa! This is my first GetBackers story, so go easy on me in reviews please! Although if you have any critics or suggestions, please make them, I'm willing to hear anything that might make this story better. It's becoming something of my baby as I work on it, I love it, I pamper it, I'm proud of it, and I have no idea where it's going! - Hehe, anyway, please enjoy! **

**Summary: To escape from danger, she ran into darkness. For safety, she joined a warring street gang. To save her dying soul, he is determined to make her smile, and bring her back to the light. **

**Protégé **

**Prolog: Haunted Eyes**

_Anyone who thinks that life is fair or sweet ought to take a trip down to Mugenjou,_ thought Rouran Joker Emishi in a rare moment of cynicism. It didn't help matters that the sky had been emptying itself by the bucket load for the past few days. Scowling, the usually easy-going man cast a withering look at the sky, as if hoping that his angry stare would cause the storm clouds to fly away in shear terror. Unfortunately storm clouds, non-living beings that they were, didn't just pick up and fly away. Which left the joker with the two remaining options of a) staying out in the rain and getting soaked, or b) seeking shelter somewhere. Emishi opted for choice b as his wet clothes were starting to chafe, not at all comfortable.

The Rouran Joker picked up his pace from a lazy trudge to a brisk trot, eyes open for a handy doorway. He found one after a while and gratefully utilized it, stepping into one of Mugenjou's many storehouse like rooms. After a glance around to see if he could pinpoint where he was, and thence how to get elsewhere from there, he walked across the room and opened a door on the other side, slipping in easily. He kept up his brisk pace as he walked down the hallway, his whip slapping gently against his side with his movements. His loose, casual demeanor threw off those who did not know him, for years of living in Mugenjou had taught him to never let his guard down, not even for a moment. His senses were always on high alert, ready to spring to action at the slightest hint of danger. So it was with little effort that he heard the vague echoes of a fight resounding through the halls.

Without even thinking about it Emishi followed the echoes. He followed the noise through the twisting halls until they became distinct enough for him to begin to distinguish different voices amid the wild shouts. He found himself in the doorway of a balcony that overlooked another storehouse like room, where the fight came into crystal view. There were several bodies scattered around on the floor of the room, a quick count numbering them at fifteen, and six figures left moving. It seemed that five of the figures were determinedly attacking one lone female figure, who was the apparent cause of the numerous sprawled figures. She was doing quite a job of defending herself, wheeling twin curved blades through the air effortlessly, blocking the strikes of her five remaining attackers.

As Emishi watched she took out two of them, breaking one's leg, and giving the other a roundhouse kick to the temple. When given an opening she kicked the broken legged boy in the head for good measure as he was groping for his dropped weapon. Of the remaining three the short, black-haired, well-muscled, nun chuck wielding man was the obvious leader. He was also, it seemed, the fighter that the girl was having the most trouble in fending off. He would occasionally punctuate his attacks with taunts.

"What's the matter girly? Tiring?" He laughed as he lashed out again, the girl bringing up one of her curved blades in a desperate block, breaking the nose of the man closest to her with her other hand, leaving her with just two more opponents. "You can't beat us, girly, no matter how many lame-brains you take out," he continued to taunt. The girl was panting in desperate gulps of air, and it was clear even from Emishi's standpoint that she had long since past the point where she had begun to tire, her forced movements made it clear that her muscles were cramping up, a dangerous thing in a fight like that. "You can't win if you're being careful girly. Weren't you ever taught how to fight properly? You don't dance around being careful of your foe's life! You worry about your own, the winner is the survivor!" The girl let out a shriek of denial, throwing herself forward in a furious attack. She had to duck as the man lashed out with his weapon and didn't quite manage to get fully out of the way in time, the nun chuck catching her over the top of the head. She crumpled to the ground and started to roll in a desperate evasive maneuver. She stood quickly and suddenly, taking the remaining man by surprise and kneeing him hard in the groin. Emishi grimaced from where he was standing. That had to hurt. The girl knocked the boy out with a swift, hard punch to the head, knocking him out of his misery in Emishi's opinion, then turned to face the leader, who hadn't moved from where she had gone down.

Emishi wondered if he could scrounge up some popcorn and get back here fast enough to watch the fight. The girl looked tired beyond words, but was not yet swaying on her feet and if she could take out nineteen armed men with barely a scratch on her she would prove to be quite the opponent for the man across from her. A fact that seemed to be crossing the man's mind as he stared at her.

"Please!" the girl cried out finally. "Please, just let me go! I've had enough of this!"

"Oh, the timid little rabbit has grown tired of fighting the big, bad, wolves?" the man asked in a baby voice.

"I'm tired of hurting people, for God's sake let me go!" the girl shrieked. The man pretended to consider it, then looked up at her with an evil leer.

"No." Then with no warning he lashed out, his weapon moving almost to fast for the eye to follow, but the girl was faster and had struck it aside and danced out of the way. The man's stunned shock didn't last very long and with a roar of rage he charged forward again. His moves were quickly deteriorating into blind swings of rage. The girl was able to block each and every one. She no longer pleaded with him to stop, knowing that in his blind rage he would likely not even hear her, so she didn't waste the breath. When given the opening she slammed a fist against his temple, but all it did was phase him for a moment. They danced this way around the room and Emishi began to wonder what was taking the girl so long to finish off the guy. A movement caught his eye and he turned to see one of the men on the other side of the room sitting up and rubbing his head. Frowning, Emishi looked carefully around the rest of the room and confirmed his suspicions. Every single downed man in the room was alive, maybe not completely unbroken but alive and in no real danger, unless you counted the ongoing fight. Emishi turned his incredulous gaze on the girl, who had by now realized that her opponent was not to be downed by blows to the head, however hard she could deliver them.

"Please!" she screamed again. Both fighters remained oblivious to the fact that the room was emptying around them, men who were conscious dragging out the ones who weren't, or who were too injured to walk. "Please! Please don't make me do this!" she cried out desperately. The man ignored her cries, beating down with his weapon all the harder. With the wild, strangled cry of a wounded animal the girl darted forward, her movements almost to fast to read. In barely a few seconds the man was lying on the floor before her, a crimson stain just beginning to pool alongside his neck, his eyes going glassy. The girl was left staring at her curved blade, either from shock, relief, or a mix of the two.

Emishi used this as his cue to leap gracefully from the balcony and land facing the girl. To him, timing was everything but the girl didn't seem to appreciate his impeccable timing or grand entrance. Her head snapped up, eyes wide as saucers as they regarded each other in a split second that contained an eternity all it's own, then she leapt forward with the wild fury of a cornered animal that has no choice but to lash out at it's attackers. There was no sanity left in the girl's eyes, only a keen desperation, and a wild instinct for survival. But for all the girl's speed and skill she was still half a room away and her weapons were short range. Emishi had his whip dancing through the air the instant she started moving. It cracked across her hands sharply, causing her to drop her blades, then snapped around to pin her arms to her sides and sweep her feet out from under her. She struggled wildly on the floor, trying to disentangle herself from the whip, knowing her efforts were useless but not willing to just close her eyes and give up. She finally went limp, panting for breath as she lay still on the floor, her dark chocolate colored hair in a tangled disarray about her head.

Emishi approached the girl carefully, going to one knee beside her gasping form, his grip on his whip handle loosening ever so slightly. A strong breeze sprang up out of nowhere and hit him forcefully on the back, sending him stumbling forward at the same time that the girl gave a sudden, wild jerk and to his shock and horror Emishi felt the whip handle leave his hand. _Impossible_, he thought wildly in the instant before he snatched it up again the girl had jerked her arms to the sides and gotten the coils around her loose enough to shoot out of them like a rocket, propelled by some unseen force. She darted around to snatch up her weapons and spun to face Emishi, barely a foot from him. Some human sense had been restored to her eyes, their hazel depths losing that wild insanity they had possessed barely a few minutes gone, but the desperation was still there, the instinct to fight for survival whatever the cost. Emishi struck, but for the first time someone fended off his blow. Whatever skill she had been using for her past fight was nothing to the skill she called upon now. A breeze was stirring through the room as the girl twisted in an intricate dance around him, avoiding the whip which Emishi couldn't use to its best capacity at such a close range, a fact this girl was well aware of as she kept that close distance between them, wherever he tried to move.

Without warning, Emishi bumped into a wall with a startled exclamation, the whip's path now impeded as it slapped the unyielding surface. Emishi was unable to pull it forward fast enough to strike the girl before she reached him and in a flash had her blade to his throat, her other hand, also clutching its weapon, holding his whip hand in place. The weapon dangled from his hand like a dead snake, unmoving and lifeless as Emishi looked at the girl before him. She had been herding him, he realized, moving around his and making back up to where she wanted him to be and he hadn't realized it. Her head was bowed, her chocolate hair shielding her face, but that didn't stop him from feeling the trembling in her slight frame. He heard her gasps, and thought there was something about them that made them sound like they weren't just gasps for air.

"Please," she whispered once again. "Please let me go."

"Let _you_ go?" Emishi asked, quietly as he was trying to avoid puting pressure on the blade at his throat. "Who is holding who captive here? I should be asking _you_ that question."

The girl let out a hysterical laugh that Emishi knew had nothing to do with humor. Then she raised her face to look at him with eyes brimming with tears. Her hazel eyes met his blue ones behind his pink rimmed glassed and the Rouran Joker found himself, for once, at a loss for words. He knew of no one in Mugenjou who had eyes that reflected happiness or peace, they wouldn't live in Lower Town otherwise. Everyone there had lost something, or was running from something, or had stopped caring about life. The eyes of most of Mugenjou's citizens were dead. But hers were very much alive, and brimming with emotion. Her eyes were an ocean of grief and fear, and they threatened to drown him in their depths.

"Please, don't make me do this, not again," the girl was pleading with him again. "Please let me go." The hand that had held his weapon hand in check moved to his shoulder and bunched the material it found there, her face pressing into his chest. Though his hand was now free, Emishi made no move to use his whip, still conscious of the blade at his throat.

"This is VOLTS territory, I cannot let you leave without knowing your purpose here and if you mean harm," Emishi pressed. The girl let out a humorless laugh.

"Harm?" her voice was a cracked remnant of a normal human voice, almost like a broken music box and it jarred his ears. "I'm merely passing through," she continued in a dead tone. "I mean none harm! That was self defense! I _begged_ him to back down! _Begged him_!" her voice had risen to a hysterical cry, but for all her body's shaking the hand with the dagger to his neck was quite steady. "I don't need anymore blood on my hands," she said miserably. "I don't want yours there too, they're stained enough. Please let me _go_." Her voice was a strangled sob now and the material of his shirt felt rather wet around the area where her face was. Her other hand still clutched desperately at his shoulder and if her other hand hadn't been holding a dagger to his throat she would for all the world be crying for comfort from him. She eventually forced back the tears and leaned back to look at him again.

"I'll let you go on one condition," Emishi finally said. A spark of hope flickered in the girl's eyes along with a wave of wariness. "Tell me your name," Emishi said smoothly. The girl blinked in surprise, confusion overriding her other emotions for a moment.

"Amity," she said with a bitter whisper. "My name is Amity Lyn." The irony of the statement was not lost on the Rouran Joker.

"It's a very nice name," Emishi said simply, in neither the position nor state of mind to crack a joke. Amity's mouth twisted into a bitter smile as she removed her hand from his neck, and Emishi breathed a sigh of relief. "My name is Emishi," the Joker said. The girl looked up at him, attaching her blades to a special belt she was wearing.

"You didn't have to tell me that," she said flatly. "You bargained my name for my freedom, you were not required to give me your name." Something deep inside of Emishi was insisting that he help this girl, was horrified by the wild grief or complete lack of life that would dominate her eyes.

"Well if we ever see each other again I hardly want you referring to me as 'hey you' or 'whip man' now do I?" Emishi asked, a grin on his face.

"We won't be seeing each other again though," Amity said, then turned to go.

"What, no goodbye?" Emishi asked, as though deeply hurt.

"I hate goodbyes," Amity said tonelessly. "Because it means that I'll never see the person I say goodbye to again. Goodbye is too permanent."

"But I thought we were never going to meet again," Emishi persisted.

"Do you know how to do anything other than annoy people?" Amity asked, a waspish snap to her voice.

"Not really," Emishi said happily. "But you really seem to want to be going, so instead of saying 'goodbye' let's say 'ja ne.' 'See you'."

"Ja ne," Amity sampled. A small, half-smile formed for a moment on her lips and Emishi let out a little inner cheer at the sight. "All right then, since you're so persistent. Ja ne it is. Ja ne Emishi-san."

"Ja ne, Amity-han." Emishi watched with a mix of worry and satisfaction as she walked away. He continued to smile after she was gone. 'Ja ne' it really would be, for there were more ways to keep track of people in Mugenjou than he was even aware existed. But he knew enough to know that he wouldn't lose track of Amity if he didn't want to.

End chapter

**Need to knows **

**For all of those who are new to anime and/or don't know any Japanese, r's are pronounced as l's, so Rouran is actually pronounced Lo-lan. I'm a bit of a stickler for spelling Japanese words correctly (kind of stupid since I can't spell most English words correctly) and not by sound, so that's why I don't type Loulan. Oh, sue me, I'm sure you all have pet peeves too. **

**For those who didn't get the dry humor of Amity's name, amity basically means peace or harmony, so having 'Amity' attack and wind up killing someone renders her name rather hypocritical. **

**Like the story, hate the story, let me know, but no flames. If you hate it, give a reason. **


	2. The New Recruit

**It's kinda sad, I actually forgot that I posted this story. You can hurt me now. Anyway I finally managed to post the second chapter answering the probable questions of 'did she die' or 'was this meant to be a oneshot' or 'does she not care?' No, no, and no. So without further ado here is chapter two of Protégé. **

**Disclaimer: Amity belongs to me, but the Getbackers and related random stuff does not. **

**Summary: During the days of hell in Mugenjou the VOLTS take on a new recruit with the power to control the wind. **

**Protégé**

**Chapter 1: The New Recruit **

As the young girl padded silently down the street she didn't even look up as a crow cawed loudly somewhere above her, already accustomed to the sound. She slipped quietly through the hole in the wall of a tiny, run-down shack on the outskirts of Mugenjou. The crow turned its head to watch her better through its beady black eye, then with another loud caw it leaped into the air, pumping its wings to gain altitude. It sailed through the city, feathers fluttering in breeze created by its passage, wheeling around at one point as it spotted someone on the roof of a building. The spiky haired man held up his arm and the crow daintily landed on the offered perch, accepting the piece of bread that the man offered.

The man's reddish-brown headed companion glanced up at him through his pink-framed, blue-lensed sunglasses from where he was lounging against the side wall of the roof, flashing a lopsided grin as the man listened intently to the crow's caws. After a few moments the man murmured words of thanks, gently stroking the black bird's head, then tossing his arm up into the air, launching the scavenger bird once more into flight.

"Well Shido?" Emishi asked the Beastmaster, who had shoved his hands in his pockets and was casually leaning against the wall as well.

"You know if you trust that girl so little why do you let her stay?" Shido asked his companion.

"Oh I trust her, impossible not to," Emishi responded. "I just want to know what she's still doing here in Mugenjou after nearly two weeks."

"Scavenging for food, according to the crow," Shido said. "She's still holing up in that rundown shack. I don't see how someone like her could possibly survive here long."

"Oh she can hold her own, trust me on that," Emishi muttered, absentmindedly rubbing his throat. Shido glanced sideways at the Rouran Joker. Emishi had been keeping a steady eye on the girl ever since their encounter almost two weeks ago, and Shido was beginning to wonder why. From what he'd seen of the girl she wasn't much different from most who came through Mugenjou; haunted by her past and running from her problems. Though he supposed he shouldn't judge her, he really didn't have much room to talk.

"So are you planning on confronting her again anytime soon?" he asked offhandedly. "Or are you just going to stalk her for the rest of her life?"

"Maybe," Emishi answered vaguely.

"If she's as good a fighter as you say then why not have her join the VOLTS?" Shido asked. "She doesn't appear to have any intentions of leaving and I seriously doubt she has anywhere to go."

"Her eyes," Emishi answered vaguely, and for once, seriously. "Her eyes were so sad. She doesn't belong here, not really, no matter how skilled she is."

"She beat you," Shido said with a smirk.

"I let my guard down," Emishi muttered. "I underestimated her strength, that's all."

Shido chuckled quietly.

"She just, doesn't belong here," Emishi repeated finally. Shido snorted.

"No one _belongs_ here. Here just, happens, to people. Here happened to her. She can belong if someone helps her, and I still say that she can help us if she's that skilled. If she's been here this long and nothing's come of her presence then she obviously intends us no harm, but maybe she can help. We could always use the extra person." That said, Shido pushed off the wall and walked over to the stairs. "Ja ne, Emishi-san," he said with a wave over his shoulder.

"Ja ne, Shido-han," Emishi said in return. He leaned his head back against the wall with a smile. "Ja ne," he said to himself.

Amity pushed aside the raggedy blanket she had tacked up as a 'door' and entered the little one-room shack that she now took shelter in. It wasn't much, but it was hers and that was all that mattered to her right now. She would save the luxury apartments for when she hit it big one day, if ever she did. For now, she was happy just to have this.

She stored the food she had brought in an old rickety cabinet in the corner, then flopped down on the old mattress she used as a bed. Some sheets and blankets she had scrounged up were folded neatly on it, and the room was free of dust. Small and decrepit the place might be but Amity kept it clean and tidy at least. She might have close to nothing, but she took pride in what she had.

Amity sighed as she looked around. She wasn't supposed to be here still, she was supposed to have moved on. She didn't like staying in one place, she needed to keep moving. But she was reluctant to leave now that she had carved out a little hole for herself, she was almost comfortable now. And in the midst of this lawless city, she felt almost safe. Almost.

_I'm merely passing through_, she had said. She really hadn't meant to stay. _I guess this makes me a liar_, she thought to herself with a tired, disheartened half-smile. _I told him I wasn't going to stay, but here I am, two weeks and I'm still here_.

Emishi. She thought about the whip-wielder almost every day. He had no idea just how close he had come to winning that fight, just a moment more… she shivered. The power she had called upon to aid her had drained her faster in mere moments then the entire fight with the gang of twenty had. It had taken more than she thought she had to walk out of the room without faltering, and she had collapsed mere moments later in a small, offside room, out like a light for about a day. She sighed, bringing her knees up to her chest and hugging them tightly. Half of her wanted to see the man again, while the other half hoped to never again catch a glimpse of him. He was the first person to coax a smile of any kind out of her in a long time, but he confused her. He had leapt out at her with the obvious intention of fighting, held her bound on the ground, and had joked lightly while she held a blade to his throat. And the only thing he had asked of her before willingly letting her go was her name.

_Ja ne, see you_. The words flashed through her mind and Amity smiled briefly. There she went again, cracking a smile, and again because she was thinking of him.

_'I hate goodbyes, they're too permanent.' 'Then don't say goodbye. Say ja ne, see you.'_

"Ja ne," she whispered.

Hers the little shack might be now, but Amity learned fast that anything in Mugenjou that belonged to you, however small, you had to fight to keep. She was fighting off random cliques and smaller gangs on an almost regular basis now, to the point where she was sleeping with her twin curved blades in hand. And it was becoming harder and harder to hold on to this little haven of hers, as more people learned of the lone girl who lived alone near the edge of Lower Town. After all, how many does it take to take out one girl? Apparently, however, it took more than had been worth digging up. Up until this point anyway. But this was the third group Amity had met on this one scavenging expedition, and there was a full thirty members to the gang.

"Come on girly, give it up."

"Ya know there's no way ya can take us all out."

"We won't hurt you. Much." The man leered at her, and Amity shuddered.

_Yeah right_, she thought silently, eyeing the crowd around her. There was no way she could win if she relied on her weapons alone. There were far too many to this group and they all seemed to know what they were doing. That, and they had her hemmed in. Amity smiled grimly, then raised one hand in the air, bringing the other in front of her face in almost an attitude of prayer. She was tired and this was going to wear her down fast, she would have to move quickly then.

"I can't beat you can I?" she asked almost innocently. "Why don't we find out, hmm?" Confused, the group exchanged looks, shrugged, then sprang forward as one. A twister of wind whipped up out of nowhere around Amity, spreading up and out, then down. The gang was forced to the ground, unable to stand with the hurricane force winds holding them down. Amity wasted no time, dancing around and knocking out the boys as fast as she could move. Panting, she banished the wind she had summoned up, then staggered away from the scene, the members of this gang scattered about on the street.

As she turned a corner a few streets up a sudden disturbance in the air behind her caused her to twist sideways, just in time to dodge the knife that had been aimed at her back. _No_, she thought in desperation. She was worn down to almost nothing, she couldn't possibly fight off anyone else. But there were five people halfway down the street behind her. With an angry sob Amity raised her weapons, determined to go down fighting. But she never even got the chance. Something whizzed past her, catching the surprised five off guard. The whip that shot by her on a path to the five created a horizontal whirlwind around it, doubling the force of impact as it knocked all five boys off their feet. They scrambled back up, furious, but they didn't stand a chance against the whip-wielder, who, with a few fancy maneuvers, finished them off almost effortlessly.

Grinning, Emishi snapped his whip back onto his belt and turned to look at Amity, who was kneeling on the ground, her chocolate hair spilling about her shoulders as her shaky hazel eyes trained on him.

"Funny that we should run into each other again like this," Emishi said, walking to stand over her, his hands on his hips. Amity simply stared at him, then pushed off the ground to stand on trembling, unsteady legs.

"I would hardly call it coincidence." She stated flatly. "You've been watching me, haven't you?"

Emishi rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Well, not exactly. I know this guy see, and he can talk to animals…" he trailed off as Amity lost her footing and fell. He caught her easily, thinking to himself that she didn't weigh near enough, she was far too thin. Then he realized that she had passed out. With a sigh he hefted her far too light form in his arms and walked the short distance to the shack that she had claimed as her own. He stepped though the blanket in the doorway and looked around the tiny room, laying his unconscious charge on the mattress, easily flipping open a blanket and settling it over her.

"Well you certainly keep it clean in here," Emishi muttered to himself as he looked around. The floor was even dust free, the broken handled broom against the wall the apparent reason. He settled himself on the floor at the foot of the mattress, leaning back against the wall as he studied the unconscious Amity's features. She was pale, drained, the slight scattering of freckles across her nose and cheeks standing out sharply in contrast to her white face. Her hair lay in a tangled, matted halo about her head, and she was rather in need of a shower. The stained, ripped t-shirt and patched jeans she was wearing now were what she had been wearing when he first saw her, so apparently she had no other change of clothes. After a quick scrounge of the place Emishi settled back down with a frown, noticing the minimum of food in the broken cabinet and the lack of it everywhere else. He sighed, realizing that if he was going to do anything for Amity, now was the time to do it. However well she handled herself in a fight, it wouldn't mean anything if died of malnutrition. He closed his eyes and settled into a light nap, tuned for the slightest sound, either from his unaware charge or from outside.

Footsteps outside had him standing in one fluid motion not long later, but he relaxed almost as fast, recognizing the staccato footfalls.

"Hey Shido-han," Emishi greeted his friend brightly as he stepped outside. Shido eyed the shack, then Emishi who was leaning casually against the wall. "You were watching then Shido-han?" Emishi asked curiously. Shido gestured to the birds that were flying overhead in answer.

"Have you asked her yet?" he questioned the joker. Emishi chuckled.

"I would have but unconscious people have this habit of not hearing you when you say things." Shido grunted.

"That's quite an ability that girl has," he commented, his arms crossed over his chest.

"But it completely wipes her out when she uses it," Emishi replied, brow furrowed. "Now granted if she practices…" he trailed off.

"She's your problem now, whatever she chooses to do," Shido said, turning to go. Emishi spun around, sputtering.

"Shido-han! What do you mean she's my problem?"

"You were the one who was so interested in her well being these past few weeks," Shido reasoned as he walked away. "You can be the one to watch after her now. Think of her as a protégé if you will." While Emishi was left gaping like a codfish Shido vanished around a corner and Emishi knew better than to think that he could catch up. Shaking his head to clear it he wandered back in to the shack to resume his place on the floor at the foot of the mattress. He turned to look at Amity again. While he was talking to Shido she had rolled onto her side and one hand was curled by her mouth which was open just slightly. Emishi smiled fondly in spite of himself, she looked so innocent like that, like a little child.

"Protégé, huh?" he whispered. "Might not be so bad, hmm Amity-han?" the sleeping girl didn't respond. Emishi leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes, settling once more into a light nap.

When he opened his eyes again several hours later he noticed a slight change in the atmosphere of the room, as if it had become slightly more charged.

"You'd have beaten me you know," a quiet female voice disturbed the stillness. Emishi turned to look at Amity, whose open eyes were studying him. She sat up then, her hands folded on her crossed legs, still half under the blanket. "You were trying not to hurt me. I saw how easily you dealt with those boys earlier. If you had tried, you could have killed me in a second, but you were trying not to hurt me," she accused quietly.

Emishi shrugged nonchalantly. "Would you rather that I'd killed you then?" he chided gently. Amity snorted, a bitter sounding laugh.

"Just one minute longer and you'd have won," Amity said, staring a hole in the wall next to her. "I was using the wind to read your moves, to dodge, to toss your whip aside. I couldn't have kept that up for longer. As it was I was ready to collapse."

"As evidenced," Emishi agreed with a nod to her in the bed. "You're still skilled, and I've never seen weapons quite like those." He gestured to the curved blades on the table. Amity turned to look at her blades, the only things she really owned in the world other than the clothes on he back.

"Why did you step in?" she asked bluntly. "Why are you here?"

"Aw, you're so suspicious Amity-han," Emishi complained with a grin. When her expression didn't change he gave in. "I'm here with an offer actually. I'm not the only one who's noticed you."

"An offer?" Amity asked warily.

"Yes. Would you be interested in joining the VOLTS?" Emishi asked. Amity blinked.

"The VOLTS are a street gang, yes?" she questioned. Emishi's mouth quirked.

"Sure, make us sound like bad guys," he chuckled.

"Well aren't you?" Amity challenged.

"Well what does that make you?" Emishi asked. Amity looked as if he'd slapped her, and Emishi wondered for a second if he'd gone too far, so he tried again. "You have no where to go, am I right?" Reluctantly, Amity nodded. "You're all but starving on the street. The VOLTS can offer you shelter, food, and a more comfortable place to sleep. All we ask in return is the loan of your skills to ours. You can just try it out," he added quickly when she looked away, uncertain. "Stay with us a while, and if you don't like it, you can leave and try your hand elsewhere. But quite frankly, I don't want to leave you alone down here to die on the street." Amity pursed her lips while Emishi unconsciously held his breath.

"I promise you nothing," Amity said after a while. "Except that I'll give it a shot. But if I don't like it, I leave. Yes?" Emishi smiled in answer.

"Of course," he said brightly, standing easily and stretching out the kinks that had developed while he cat-napped. As Amity made to stand Emishi extended a hand to help her up. She glanced at him, startled. He waited unmoving. Hesitantly Amity placed her hand in his, allowing him to pull her to her feet. She stared at their joined hands for a few moments, some emotion in her eyes. Then she blinked and it was gone and she was moving to the table to collect her weapons. She left the shack without taking anything else, Emishi right behind her.

"So what does being in the VOLTS involve? What am I going to be expected to do?" Amity questioned as they walked away from the little shack, Amity sparing it no more than a brief backwards glance, a small acknowledgement of the home it had provided for her during the last few weeks. "Who am I going to answer to?" she asked, sounding a little uncertain.

"Me," Emishi said simply, his hands behind his head. "You've been placed in my responsibility so you'll answer to me. Other than that, I guess you'll just have to wait and see," he said with a devilish grin.

Amity's eyes rose to meet his, uncertain, wavering. They were the eyes of someone who had seen every dream ever formed crushed underfoot before her eyes, who had seen an entire life go up in flames around her and leave her a shivering wreak among the ashes. But a small glimmer of hope remained, all riding on this one last chance, this one last wild shot at life. And Emishi was determined to make it work out for her. Reaching out a hand he ruffled the hair of the VOLT's newest recruit, grinning widely.

**Yep, so I'll try to get the next chapter up sooner. Notice the word TRY, college apps are a bitch. Ano, please review, reviews motivate me. And if Amity is beginning to sound like a Mary-Sue, TELL ME! I DO NOT want that to happen! Arigato. Ja ne! **


End file.
